Presented by Rumble

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- Tremors Festival 2025

Submissions due September 15th at 11:59 pm [PST]

See below for more details!

We are seeking proposals for projects, excerpts, and works-in-progress of approximately 25 – 30 minutes in length.

Programmed works will be performed as part of a shared festival bill at a one-ticket event that takes the form of an ‘art party meets night market.’

Audiences will be able to see half of the entire festival programming each night. Artists are expected to perform only once per night. 

While presentations are not expected to be “complete” they should be in “performance mode.” Even if that performance mode is a bit rough.

Another way of describing the stage of development that projects being showcased at Tremors should be at is:  ‘able to – and seeking to engage an audience’.

 

Works are performed on one of two stages:

Semi-Public (Outdoor Cabaret stage)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A converted garage playing to a tented parking lot. The Semi-public stage is well suited to pieces with smaller casts or solo performances, and works using direct address forms such as story-telling, monologue, spoken-word or stand-up.

 

Semi-Private (Indoor Black-box stage) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our indoor creation studio. The Semi-public stage is very versatile and well suited to pieces experimenting with form – particularly those seeking more control over lighting and sound elements.


Key Dates

Shared Residency period (optional): May 19th – 25th, 2025
Tech period: May 26th – 29th, 2025
Performance Dates: May 29th – June  8th, 2025
Festival Location: Progress Lab 1422, Vancouver, BC, CAN (Unceded MST)

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: SEPTEMBER 15th 2024  11:59PM PST

Submissions are welcomed from individuals, collectives, and organizations.

 

What We Provide

  • Presentation fee (generally between $3,000 – $6,000 CAN depending on scale and scope) 
    • Please Note for Out of Town artists: We are unable to provide Travel funding above the presentation fees. However, we will be happy to support you in travel applications to National, Provincial, and Local granting bodies in any way we can. 
  • Letters of Support/Confirmation as required. 
  • Presentation space including technical services and equipment
  • Calling Stage Management
    • Meaning we can call cues based on a cue list once we begin the tech process, however do not provide stage management during rehearsals off-site.  
  • Marketing and Publicity services
  • Box Office and Front of House services
  • An archival of your performance at the festival (single camera) for future use. 
  • (Optional) Residency space leading up to the festival for rehearsals and other uses.
  • (Optional) Mentorship on grant writing/revenue development, producing, and long term project management.

 

How To Apply

Please email applications (in a single PDF if possible) to jiv[at]rumble.org no later than 11:59 PM PST. September 15th 2025.

Applications should include the following information:

Essential application requirements: 

  • An artist statement introducing yourself or your collective and the project you are proposing (ideally maximum length of 2 pages single spaced.)* 
  • Additionally, we require: 
    • A list of collaborators on your project
      • Either names and bios (if confirmed) or number of collaborators and roles (if unconfirmed). 
    • Relevant production or development history of the project you are proposing.
      • For example, if it was developed through a residency with another organization, or if you held a reading or showing yourself. 
    • Whether you have a preference between a semi-public or semi-private space? 
    • Whether you have any conflicts, or limitations in your availability between May 19th  – June 8th 2025

Support Material: 

  • It is recommended that you submit at least one item of support material. This can include: 
    • Additional material about the project you are proposing
    • Archivals, Script excerpts, and other materials of the project and its development to date.
    • Past examples of work from you, and your collaborators. 
      • In the case of submitting past work, it’s helpful if you let us know how you think it relates to your application and the project you are proposing for Tremors. 
  • Support material length guidelines: You may submit as much support material as you like, however the committee will only be required to read up to 10 pages, and watch/listen to up to 12 minutes of recorded material. So it is advisable to provide time codes, and page ranges that you would like us to prioritise. 

Optional application requirements (that are very helpful for us, and appreciated.)

  • A short description of your objectives in presenting at Tremors (if known).
    • Essentially – what questions are you looking to have answered, or what questions are you asking yourself in the development of your project.
  • Any known technical information you can provide us
    • For example, if your project requires projection, or installing a significant set item. 
  • Any community connections you have, or are seeking to make
    • For example – if you are making a piece about harm reduction, are their organizations you are already connected to? Are there organizations you would like to be connected to that we might be able to help with? 

PLEASE NOTE: If you have not received a confirmation of receipt on your application within two weeks of submission, please follow up to confirm that it has been received.

*Regarding the 2-page maximum length Artist Statement and Project Description: We recognize that some projects may require a longer description, particularly if they are working in a form that requires additional cultural or historic context. In these cases, it is ok to go over the page limit. That said, brevity is still appreciated where possible. 

QUESTIONS? Please see our Frequently Asked Questions on the sidebar of this page. For any other questions please email jiv[at]rumble.org


About Tremors

Occurring once every two years, the TREMORS festival has been a major component of Rumble’s programming for some time. The exact structure of the festival has shifted over the years, adapting to what we see as the current needs in the Independent theatre and performance sector in the city of Vancouver, BC (unceded MST).

Originally, Tremors was a presentation series evolving out of ‘The Young and the Restless’ series which showcased full-length projects by Emerging collectives.

Next, Tremors focused on training –  producing three full-length productions of existing scripts executed by groups of emerging artists receiving mentorship from established artists.

Most recently, Tremors has shifted its model to utilize its platform to provide an intermediary showcase opportunity of short works or works-in-development for artists – where work is ready to engage an audience – but it is also still early enough that it may continue to to change based on what is discovered. In this way, artists don’t have to go ‘all the way to premiere’ to start to understand how a project functions with a live audience. Some Tremors projects continue on to full development – others may end at the festival. Both are great – our intention is to allow the space for experimentation in a supportive and relatively low-stakes situation. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q What is the optional ‘Shared Residency Period’?

A: The Shared Residency Period is a full week that we have reserved purely for the use of programmed artists to rehearse, explore, get used to the spaces, try out technical ideas – whatever will support your project best. The space is available to us 24/7 and will be shared amongst programmed artists. The Festival Producer will help to organize the exact times each group has the space booked. 

 

Q: What if my project is longer than 25-30 minutes?

A: That’s ok! You don’t need to show the entire piece. We encourage showing excerpts, or other creative approaches to exploring your work. That said, due to the structure of the festival – we cannot generally showcase works that are longer than 25-30 minutes.

 

Q: Is Tremors just for new creation projects? What if I just want to direct an existing play?

A: Tremors in its current form is probably best suited to new creation projects. But we are absolutely open to any project that can fit into the structure (25-30 minutes). This could be a 25-30 minute play, or an excerpt or ‘cut’ of a longer play. The most important thing for us is knowing what you are experimenting with so we can assess if the festival can provide the appropriate support for you to meet your goals. 

 

Q: Are you producing my show?

A: No! We are presenting your show or work-in-progress showing.

 

Q: What does presenting mean?

A: Presenting is one form of arts showcase largely speaking. It means that we do not have creative control over your work, and that it’s not your responsibility to focus on anything else except the artistic piece – that’s on us.  So for example – front of house, box office, technicians, most marketing – anything to do with hosting the audience – is the presenters job (Rumble).

 

Q: Wait, so who’s producing my show?

A: You are! (Or a producer you might hire/collaborate with).

 

Q: What do I need to do to produce my show?

A: That depends on your show. But generally it involves communicating with the presenters (Rumble), hiring artists onto the show, and providing a healthy workspace.

It may also involve grant writing depending on the scope of your show.

 

Q: What do you mean by scale and scope of my show?

A: Some projects are larger than others. If a project requires 30 people, for example, this is a lot of people working. 

 

Q: How do I know if my show is of a scale scope where I should plan on writing grants/finding additional support?

A: Again, it does ultimately depend on the show and also how much you feel as a producer is a fair wage.

So for example, if your piece is already largely “finished” and you just want to try presenting it to the Tremors audience – you may not need more than a few days to rehearse and perform.

In which case, just the Tremors fee might be enough to make that happen ($3,000-$6,000 CAN).

But if your project requires 30 people to rehearse for two full-time weeks – chances are the festival fee won’t cover a fair wage for all those people, and so we would encourage you to pursue external funding. 

 

Q: What if I don’t know how to write grants?

Programmed artists will have the option to receive mentorship on both grant writing and long-term project management from the Rumble team. We will also provide any necessary letters of confirmation or letters of support. To be clear – this does not guarantee you’ll get a grant if you apply for one – but we’ll do our best to help you navigate that system as best we can. 

 

Q: I don’t live in Vancouver – do you provide travel support?

Unfortunately we are unable to provide travel support at this time. However, we will be happy to support you in applications by providing letters of confirmation and support to granting bodies that offer this type of funding. The Canada Council for the Arts’ “Arts Across Canada” program is a great place to apply, and many provinces and territories have similar programs.  

 

Q: I have an idea for a project, but I don’t have a team of people to work with. Can you find me a team?

No. But we will be happy to help make some introductions though if you know what you’re looking for. For example, if you really want to work with a sound designer but you just don’t know anyone who does that – we can introduce you to some people. 

 

Q: How far along should my project be to apply to Tremors?

We generally would recommend that projects have had some early development (even a kitchen table reading with friends, or a first draft of a script.) For projects that are very early in their development, we would recommend applying to our cabaret series which supports work approximately 10-12 minutes in length.  

 

Submissions should be sent, via e-mail, to jiv[at]rumble.org by September 15th 2024, 11:59pm PST with Subject Line: TREMORS 25